White Fur

Chapter 20

Kanto’s POV

I didn’t want to leave Skyler’s bed. Even after being interrupted, last night was perfect. I would stay longer but I accidentally let it slip to Skyler that I had a meeting this morning and she practically kicked me out of her apartment. Zenith whined the whole walk out of her building. I waited for Colton and Dustin to show up before heading back to the pack house.

The whole drive back to the pack house, I couldn’t get Skyler off my mind. The way her mouth tasted like strawberries. How electricity shot through my body at every point I made contact with her soft skin. The feel of her hips grinding gently on me as she pressed her lips against mine. She would be mine if she didn’t oppose to marking and mating at this point. But my thoughts were cut short by my guilt, thinking about how I didn’t tell her how I was Alpha or how she needs to move into the pack house. There was still a lot of things I needed to tell her.

I needed to resolve matters with my pack first. Then I’ll tell her everything. I need to focus on what I would say to the elders at our meeting, they will no doubt have objections to Skyler once they find out she’s human.

Anyone who disapproves will be put in their place immediately. Zenith growled.

I would like to agree, but some of these elders are stuck in their ancient ways. It’s going to take some convincing. I tried to reason with my wolf. But Skyler will be Luna whether they like it or not.

Good. Zenith said before retreating in my mind. She would be the Luna of my pack whether people liked it or not. It would just be easier if they got on board sooner rather than later.

I pulled up to the pack house and went straight for my room. I quickly showered and dressed for my meeting. I heading back down the stairs towards the room the meeting would be in. When I made it to the room, Brett, Jack and Iliana were waiting by the door waiting for orders.

I didn’t disappoint and started to assign roles. “Brett you’ll join me for this meeting. Jack I want you to keep investigating the rogues and the find where the picture came from. Iliana I need you to run the architecture business for a bit until everything gets settled.”

“Yes, Alpha.” Brett and Jack replied.

“Alpha, may I ask a question?” Iliana said hesitatingly. I nodded allowing her to continue. “Who was that woman in the picture?”

Iliana knew who she was, she saw Skyler at the carnival, maybe she thought it wasn’t actually my mate. The whole pack would have found out eventually, but now that day is Monday. I sighed before explaining to Iliana. “I found my mate.” I could see emotions processing in Iliana’s eyes, as if shocked that I still claimed Skyler as my mate. In her defense, she has been preparing to be my Luna for sometime now at the councils urging. But all she did was bow her head and walk away.

“She’ll be fine, Alpha. Just needs some time. She knows what’s best for the pack and that’s your mate.” Jack reassured before following her down the hallway.

“Before we go in there. I’m happy you found your mate, I’ve got your back Kanto.” Brett smiled at me, I could feel his sincerity. I knew he would defend my Luna. “Ready?”

I nodded my head, straightened my stance and walked into the conference room. In total there were 8 elders on the pack’s elder council. Usually they were past Betas and Gammas, always as other influential members of the pack. They didn’t usually interfere with pack business unless something big happened, for example finding my mate. As I walked in all 8 elders stood up and bowed their heads in respect before sitting down again. They all waited for me to speak but I could already tell that they had a lot to say.

“I found my mate and our packs future Luna.” I just went right into it, not point of holding out.

“Congratulations, Alpha.” A couple said while other nodded their head in agreement.

“The woman in the picture is your mate? She looks like a beautiful she-wolf.” One said.

“What pack is she from?”

“What was her rank in her earlier pack?”

The weren’t leaving me room to correct their mistake. Brett cleared his throat and asked a question that I know he knew the answer to. “What’s our future Luna’s name, Alpha?”

All the elders stop shouting their questions to hear my answer. “Her name is Skyler McCarthy.” Just saying her name felt good. I took a breath before going onto the next part. “And she is not a wolf. She’s human.”

Most of the council members faces dropped. It was dead quiet in the conference room. Until a brave soul started to talk again.

“She not supernatural in any sort?” One of the members asked. I shook my head no.

“Could we turn her in—“ Someone started to suggest.

“Absolutely not. That’s out of the question.” There’s no way I would do that to my mate.

I saw from the corner of my eye Councilman Abraham have a smirk on his face before he leaned forward to ask his line of questioning. “Why would the Moon Goddess give you a human? Would she even be able to lead our pack when she knows nothing about it?”

“My mate is strong, compassionate, and smart, she will learn and take care of this pack.” Councilman Abraham liked to push my limits, he was one of the people who objected to me taking the Alpha role after my father died.

“We need someone who knows us already and will put the pack first. Someone with a lifetime of knowledge and is good for the pack.” Abraham wasn’t talking to me anymore, he was trying to rally the other council members to his cause.

“How will Skyler, my destined mate chosen by the Moon Goddess herself, not be good for the pack?” Anger and rage started to rise in me, I could already feel Zenith growling in the back of my mind getting ready to attack Abraham.

“I bet she’s a delightful girl.” He said almost too sarcastically. “But we need a leader, a she-wolf with skill. I suggest you reject this mate and make Iliana your Luna.”

I let out a warning growl, and I saw Abraham sink back in his chair a bit. “Skyler is my mate and she will be our Luna. This meeting wasn’t to discuss my options, it was out of courtesy to let you know what will be happening. If any of you have a problem with this, you can leave my pack.” Some of my Alpha tone snuck into what I said, I could hold back my anger at these stubborn fools.

It was silent for another moment before I heard someone clear their throat. I looked up towards the end of the table at Councilwoman Rosemary reposition herself to ask a question. “When will our new Luna be joining our pack Alpha?” I saw anger wash over councilman Abraham’s face at her acceptance of my mate. It made me relieved that not all of the council thought the way he did.

“I will announce Skyler as my Luna to the whole pack tomorrow. She will arrive soon after that, hopefully within a week.”

“With all due respect Alpha, you need to get her here sooner than that.” Rosemary continued with concern in her voice. Only one other council member nodded their head in agreement. “With the recent rogue attacks and her being human, it’s not safe for her to be away from the pack house. We want our future Luna safe.”

I nodded in appreciation of her concern for Skyler’s well-being. “Are there any other matters to discuss?” I looked around to see if anyone had further objections, but no one raised their hand or voice. “Then this meeting is adjourned.”

Councilman Abraham was the first to get up and fumed out of the room. A couple of the council members bowed their head as they left. The one that nodded their head when Rosemary was talking congratulated me on finding my mate before scurrying away. Soon the only people who were left were Brett, Rosemary and myself.

“Thank you for your support Councilwoman Rosemary.” I gave her a respectful bow to show my thanks.

“Pish posh, young Alpha. You have been running this pack excellently for the past 9 years, I wouldn’t question your judgement like I did your grandfather.” Councilwoman Rosemary was the Beta female when my grandfather was Alpha. From the stories I heard, she would put my grandfather in place frequently but respected him too. They were best friends, but due to pack hierarchy at the time she couldn’t be beta. Fate worked out though because her mate was the Beta of our pack. “These old fools forget that it doesn’t matter if she’s human. What matters is how you feel about her and how she runs our pack. The Moon Goddess chose her for a reason, who are we to question her?”

She gave me a big smile before leaving the conference room. “Well that went better than I thought.” Brett sort of laughed out. “I thought you were going to rip at least one persons head off.”

“The day is still young.” I jokingly glared at him.

He laughed at my empty threat, but then stopped and thought for a moment before speaking again. “I can’t believe they were trying to suggest…”

“I know. That practice has been illegal for over 200 years now. And there’s no way I’d put Skyler through that pain and suffering with the high potential that she could still die.” I sighed my anger out. “We need to make sure no one tries to change her while she’s here. Not many people know about it since it’s been outlawed for so long but it’s still possible someone could try.”

“Alright, Alpha. I’m going to go help Jack with the rogue situation.” He started heading to the door but paused when he got next to me. He put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry Kanto, our Luna is going to do amazing and no one is going to hurt her while we are around.”

Brett walked out of the room. I took a moment before walking down the hall towards my office. I closed the door and tried to start working on the stack of paperwork I needed to get through but my mind couldn’t focus. That’s when my phone buzzed.

-I hope your meeting went well.

Just that one sentence from Skyler was already making me feel calmer. But the guilt I felt earlier started to creep back.

-When are you free next? I texted

- I’m free most of the time. Wednesday I’m going to a farmer’s market. Friday one of my friends is coming to town and I said I’d hangout with her for a bit. When are you free?

I looked at the papers in front of me and groaned. With the recent rogue attacks I’ve been much more busy than I’d like. And with the announcement of finding Skyler on Monday I don’t think I’ll be free anytime soon.

-What about Saturday? I have some questions about werewolf life that I’d like you to answer. She texted before I could.

-I can try to make Saturday work.

-Yay! Work hard until then so I don’t have to scold you for slacking off.

I chuckled at her last text and missed her not being here with me.

The rest of the day mostly consisted of work and training. A lot of pack members were whispering about the girl in the photo, I know they are curious to find out who Skyler is. My mother already had everything prepare for the announcement tomorrow, so that was one less thing on my plate.

Before the day was finished, I stopped by our security building. We were a big pack so instead of having just an office for them, we made a building that housed our technology as well as maps that we used for the security of our pack. This is we’re Jack spent most of his time working as my Gamma.

“What did you find out Jack?” I said after I found him.

“We are still monitoring the North for rogues, we suspect that that is where they would come from again if they did. The patrols haven’t pick up anything new. Everyone in the pack who can, has signed up for basic training time so they can at least protect themselves.” Jack explained.

“I will reach out to the northern packs and see if they have noticed any increased rogue activity. What about the picture?” The picture involved Skyler’s safety, I don’t know how a person took the photo without me noticing so I was concerned.

“The origin of the photo came from and unknown cellphone, I suspect a burner phone, that was activated that day and deactivated not long after. We tried to track down the buyer but it’s a popular phone version and not everyone paid with credit card. Whoever it was had a lot of the pack members phone numbers. Enough to send it to the majority of the pack.” I picked up on what Jack was starting to suggest.

“So it’s likely that a pack member did this.” I concluded for him, he gave me a slight nod to confirm my suspicions.

“I hate to say it Alpha, but this person may try again. So it might be best to just wait and see if they slip up.”

I started to get mad at his words. “You want me to use my mate as bait?!?”

Jack stared at the ground at his suggestion before talking again. “Alpha, you need to get your Luna here. On her own she’s a target and now that the pack knows, word will spread. I assume that you told the council about how she’s human. That knowledge will spread too and then our enemies will come after her. She’s our Luna now, she needs to be protected and the best way to do that is by bringing her to the pack house.”

I knew he was right, everyone was right about me bringing her to the pack house. Even Zenith was agreeing with my Gamma. I didn’t want to force her to take such a huge step, but it was looking more like I didn’t have a choice.

We continued to talk more about the recent rogue activity and opening up more potential positions amongst the warriors to make sure we were prepared. The rogues at our border has been happening for a couple months now and more controlled than normal. I wanted my pack to be ready.

When I left the security building, Zenith was still restless so I decided to let him out for a run. I let him have full control while I sat in the back seat. He sprinted through the trees and launched himself over the stream. The cool summer air was helping him calm his nerves. When he was worn out, I took control again and headed back to the pack house. Once I shifted back and put clothes on, I grabbed some food from the kitchen, talked to a couple pack members then headed up to my room. As I looked around the room, I realized somethings would need to be changed so Skyler could feel more comfortable here. I made a mental note to get the room renovated.

I turned on the shower and hopped in, rinsing the sweat from the day off my body. As I rubbed body wash over my scars, my mind went back to Skyler. I smiled to myself remembering that morning she was eyeing me up and down. I pretended to be asleep so she wouldn’t feel embarrassed, also I was being a bit of a show off. If she hadn’t shot up at that moment, I probably would have made a move of some sort. My sweet little, feisty mate, oh the naughty things I want to do to you. I quickly turned the shower water to freezing before I ran away with my thoughts. I got out of the shower, put on a pair of short and lied down in bed to go to sleep. A light bing sound came from my phone before I dozed off.

-I’m about to go to bed. It was from my mate. I just want to check, there’s nothing urgent I need to know about right?

-No little mate, everything is fine. Get a good nights sleep. Of course there was something urgent but that was a conversation to have in person.

-Are you sure? I have an anxious feeling.

-Yes I’m sure. Now go to sleep, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

-Ok, goodnight Kanto.

-Goodnight Skyler. I sent back to her and put my phone back on the nightstand next to me bed.

We need to tell her. Zenith reminded me of what I’ve been hearing all day.

I will the next time I see her. I could tell Zenith didn’t like my answer but he had something else on his mind.

How did she have an ‘anxious feeling’ from us? Zenith wondered. The thought crossed my mind too, there were a couple of things that didn’t add up with Skyler sometimes.

It must be the fact her mate is an Alpha, the mate-bond must be even stronger than a normal wolf’s. That seemed like to only logical reason. Zenith gave a little grunt before retreating back in my mind. I closed my eyes and thought about how the pack will learn about their new Luna tomorrow. I needed to get Skyler here soon.